B.C. dragging-death driver set for May release

The father of a Maple Ridge gas station attendant dragged to death in 2005 is outraged the man responsible for his son's death is being released in May.

Doug De Patie says the National Parole Board told him Darnell Pratt is set to be released May 1, a month shy of his statutory release date.

Pratt has been released and re-arrested twice for parole violations since he was released in 2010 after serving six years of his nine-year manslaughter sentence. Pratt was most recently re-arrested in November for walking away from a Victoria halfway house.

De Patie says it shows a lack of rehabilitation.

"His release is just a calculated risk, to us. They should just be keeping him inside until the end. He's just using the system," he said.

"I'm just trying to be as transparent as I can to let [the public] know that Mr. Pratt is not the only case like this. Statutory release is a joke and a thorn in the side to all Canadians."

Pratt was convicted for dragging gas attendant Grant De Patie several kilometres to his death under a stolen car after De Patie tried to stop Pratt from stealing $12 from a Maple Ridge, B.C., gas station in 2005.

He was first given statutory release in June 2010, but it was revoked two days later when he failed to show up for curfew.

After De Patie's death, his family successfully lobbied the provincial government to pass Grant's Law, which requires patrons to pay for their gas before pumping.